Electronic devices—such as wearable computing devices (e.g., watches), mobile devices, mobile phones, tablet computers, music and multi-media players, gaming devices, and other handheld, wearable or portable devices—have one or more inputs such as buttons, touch screens, switches, and rotary inputs that can perform various functions.
With some rotary inputs or rotary controls, the present inventors have recognized that there may be false inputs that are not intended by the user but occur when the rotary inputs are inadvertently or unintentionally moved by contact with clothing, portions of a user's arm or hand or other items.
For instance, as shown in FIGS. 1A-1B, with a wearable electronic device 20 in the form of a watch, rotary input(s) may be in the form of a crown 22 that rotates to provide input to and control of the wearable electronic device 20. Since this crown 22 is a user input, external to the device, it is possible during normal wear that the crown 22 will be turned without the user intending it be turned—for example, when a user puts their hand in their pocket or rotates their wrist into extension (FIG. 1A), hitting the crown 22 into their lower forearm 24 or the back of their hand 26 (FIG. 1A). FIG. 1C shows an electronic device 20 positioned on a user's body (represented by dashed lines 24, 26) that could be the user's arm or back of the user's hand. If such a rotary input 22 also wakes the electronic device 20 from a sleep mode and turns on the screen, these false turns may not only be distracting to the user, they may also waste battery charge of device 20 that could have been saved for intended interactions.
Rotational motion of the user's hand or arm—such as shown in FIG. 1B or when for instance the user is opening a door, unscrewing a jar lid, or the like—may also result in inadvertent, unintentional false turns of the crown 22 of the wearable electronic device 20.
Accordingly, as recognized by the present inventors, what is needed are mechanisms and processes for detecting and rejecting false, unintended rotations of rotary inputs of electronic devices.